State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, says her move is “all about ensuring the wrong person does not hit the button to create World War III”. She has filed a resolution calling on Congress to require mental health exams for presidential candidates.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-University City)

Chappelle-Nadal says several reasons led to her action, including President Trump’s denial that some 3,000 people died in last year’s hurricane in Puerto Rico, an anonymous White House official describing Trump as unstable in a recent New York Times editorial and his relationship with Russia.

“We have to protect our country and that means we have to have a leader who is mentally stable and is telling the truth to American citizens,” she says.

Chappelle-Nadal also says Trump has made hurtful remarks about minorities.

“People who did not stand up and talk about the behavior of this president, have very little credibility,” she says. “There are too many people who are out there who are just playing nice as our country is being destroyed by a madman.”

She says Trump’s health was evaluated last year by his own doctor but questions its legitimacy. Her resolution would require an evaluation to be completed by a Walter Reed Medical Center doctor.

Chappelle-Nadal, who has been elected to serve in the Missouri House, says she did not ask any other state legislators for their support of her resolution.

U.S. President Donald Trump motions to the crowds as he exits Air Force One upon his arrival at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport in St. Louis on March 14, 2018. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

“A bunch of people who are in the district I represent support my resolution,” she says. “I would say the majority of Americans support this. There are people further out in the country who I talk to all the time, who say things I can’t say because of my previous statements, who suggest the same thing.”

Last year, Chappelle-Nadal said on Facebook that she wished Trump would be assassinated. Lawmakers called on her to step down. Chappelle-Nadal instead apologized for her comment and the Missouri Senate voted in favor of publicly reprimanding her.